


Grounder Braids

by JessicaHearts



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Gen, also i'm kinda ignoring what happened with jaha here i guess, and it's literally just octavia doing murphy's hair, and treating him like a normal human being, because it did look similar in the episode right?, i just really liked the idea of octavia braiding murphy's hair, this is really short, which is nice for a change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 18:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3259622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaHearts/pseuds/JessicaHearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Octavia's braiding Murphy's hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grounder Braids

Murphy sat alone, as always these days, and considered whether to cut all of his hair off or not. It was dirty and almost churlish in some parts and Murphy seriously doubted that he would be able to really get it as clean and nice as it had been when he and the other delinquents arrived on earth. Murphy had actually wanted to rip his hair out of skull many times before, but usually only when he had a particularly bad nightmare.

Twirling a strand of his hair between his fingers he wondered if it would look really bad if he chopped it off. At the same time he knew that the delinquents couldn’t hate him more than they already did and that they most certainly wouldn’t care about his hair or his looks in general. Which was convenient since he himself also didn’t care about it. Not at all.

He wouldn’t miss his hair, he was almost sure of that. It was annoying, always hanging in his face and his eyes, and he hated having to push it out of his face all the time. It would be better to just cut it off.

He fisted a few strands and clenched his teeth. His hair was disgusting anyway, no one would miss it and it was annoying. He pulled a little knife from one of his pockets, took a deep breath and –

“Murphy, what are you doing?”

The voice cut through his thoughts and startled him. He looked up and saw Octavia standing in front of him, with that gentle and soft tone in her voice he absolutely didn’t deserve. He was painfully reminded of the day he returned to the camp, bloody and tortured and barely recognizable. Octavia had found him. She had recognized him and brought him back to the camp. He never had thanked her, he realized in that moment a little horrified.

“Nothing, what do you care?” Murphy immediately shot back, letting go of his hair and lowering the knife. He hesitated a moment before he put it away entirely.

“I don’t,” Octavia said matter-of-factly and sat down next to him. Murphy raised his eyebrows at her, silently wondering if maybe she was running a fever and if she maybe was sick. Or maybe she was going crazy at last.

She should know better than to talk about him. Hell, she was Bellamy’s sister; she should know a lot better. Didn’t anyone tell her that he was not to be trusted? Didn’t she get the memo?

“Really.” Murphy couldn’t help the sarcasm in his voice. Of course she didn’t care. Why would she care about him? He tried to hang her brother, her only family. Why would anyone care?

“Does it bother you? Your hair, I mean” Octavia asked and she sounded genuinely interested. Murphy wasn’t sure whether to buy it.

“No. Why would it?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. He wanted Octavia to go away, he wasn’t in the mood for her company. The fact that he owed her was making him feel uneasy and twitchy.

“I don’t know,” she answered vaguely. “It’s gotten quite long, right? Must be bothering you to have it hanging in your face all the time.”

Murphy bit his bottom lip and glanced at Octavia again. She was smiling at him, in an almost nice and friendly way and Murphy wondered what she thought she would get out of this. What was the catch here? Did she remember that he owed her and now wanted him to repay her?

“It’s not bothering me,” Murphy denied and glared at Octavia when her smile only grew into a smirk.

“You sure?” She raised her eyebrows and in that moment, as if the universe was laughing at him, a few strands fell into Murphy’s face again. Octavia looked really smug when he tried to push them back behind his ear.

“I am sure,” he still growled.

“I could help you, you know,” Octavia offered and threw her own hair over her shoulder. It was braided like the grounders’ and even though Murphy hated the grounders and everything they did and stood for, he had to admit that it really suited her and that her hair, although much longer than his own, couldn’t hang in her face thanks to this hairstyle.

Octavia didn’t say anything else. The offer stood between them and Murphy didn’t know what to say. He was tempted to just send Octavia away and then just cut it all off, but something held him back. He didn’t know what it was. Maybe a little part of him, which still cared about his looks, which was perhaps even a bit vain. 

But did he really want to wear his hair like the grounders did?

And why would Octavia help him anyway? What did she get out of this? Did she want something in return? Or was it maybe just one of Raven’s plans? Murphy could imagine it: as soon as he let his guard down and let Octavia do his hair, she would cut his throat and get it over with for everyone. Or maybe Raven would do the honors. Maybe she was hiding somewhere, already watching them.

Murphy felt a chill creep down his spine at the thought, he felt the perfect cold mask on his face slip and he looked around suspiciously. But they seemed to be alone. Octavia shot him a worried look and Murphy hurried to get his facial features under control again.

“It would be really embarrassing when you’re in a fight and you lose because of your hair,” Octavia muttered then, the smirk back on her lips and Murphy snorted.

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

“Okay, fine.”

He regretted the words as soon as he said them.

“Really?”

“You want me to change my mind?” Murphy sneered angrily and somehow that just made Octavia smile again. “Come on, then.”

##

Murphy sat still, his spine straight and his hands fisted in his own shirt, while Octavia was working on his hair. His body was ready to get up and run, to get up and fight back. Even though Octavia had told him to relax, he wasn’t quite able to. He didn’t trust Octavia, not fully. He didn’t trust any of the delinquents since they tried to float him for something he didn’t do.

“Okay, I’m done with washing it,” Octavia murmured. She handed him a towel and waited for him to dry his hair with it. “Now I’ll try to comb it a bit and then I’ll braid it, alright?”

“Yes,” Murphy muttered and put the towel over his shoulders when he was done. Immediately Octavia’s fingers were in his hair again, pulling at some little knots. A little “ouch” escaped him when she pulled too forcefully at a particularly stubborn knot.

“Sorry,” she said and Murphy was surprised to hear that she genuinely sounded sorry. She also sounded a bit distracted and Murphy wondered what was on her mind. She started combing his hair and hummed quietly. “Did you know Bellamy’s leaving in the morning?”

“Leaving? But-?” Murphy wanted to stand up, wanted to go find Bellamy and tell him not to do this. Bellamy couldn’t leave. He felt something like panic rise like acid in his stomach. His fists twitched.

“Mm.” Octavia’s grip on Murphy’s hair tightened as if she could read his mind and wanted to keep him from running to their leaders right there and then. “Clarke thinks she knows how to get the 47 out of Mount Weather. She has a plan, I guess. She thinks it’s best if Bellamy and Lincoln get into Mount Weather to deactivate the acid fog and so on and help us from the inside.”

Octavia’s voice sounded hard as she spoke about Clarke’s plan. Murphy thought that maybe it was because she didn’t trust the plan. Maybe she was worried about her brother and her boyfriend leaving to face the danger of Mount Weather on their own. Maybe it was a bit of both.

“You don’t agree with her,” Murphy said as Octavia began with the braiding. “You’re worried about them.”

“They will make it,” Octavia just said.

She sounded so sure and her voice was so strong. It was like there wasn’t any doubt in her mind that Bellamy and Lincoln would be back with her soon. Maybe she really was convinced of that. Or maybe she was just doing her best to convince everyone, including herself, of that.

“Do you want me to go with them?” That thought came to Murphy as sudden as a lightning bolt and suddenly everything made sense. It would explain everything. It even explained why Octavia came to him in the first place and why she had offered her help. “Is that why you’re doing this?”

“What?” Octavia’s hands came to a halt in his hair, her fingers resting against his scalp.

“Yes, that’s what this is, right? You want me to go with them or to offer to go instead of them, am I right? That’s-“

“It’s not true,” Octavia said and her hands continued with the braiding as if the discussion was over now. She was silent for a moment. Then- “I don’t want anything from you in return. Besides, they wouldn’t let you go with them and they wouldn’t let you go instead of them anyway, you should know that much.”

Her voice was final and Murphy noticed how uncomfortable he felt with Octavia standing behind him. It was like knowing that there was a threat nearby, but not seeing it. Not knowing whether or when it will attack.

Octavia wasn’t the little girl she used to be anymore. She was a warrior. She was strong. She was dangerous. And Murphy didn’t know what she wanted from him.

“There, all done.” Octavia’s hands left his head and she stepped in front of him. Murphy felt instantly a little a bit safer. “Looks nice. Much better than before.”

“Thank you,” Murphy muttered. He didn’t care what it looked like. Or at least that was what he was telling himself. He just wanted it to keep his hair out of his face. Which it apparently did, so it was nice enough to his liking.

“It was my pleasure.”

“And you want nothing in return?”

“No.”

“Really?” Murphy didn’t believe her, not at all.

Octavia laughed. “You want me to change my mind?” she copied his earlier words and Murphy felt his lips twitch.

Later, when Octavia was gone, Murphy used his knife to look at his reflection. It kind of looked weird, the grounder hairstyle on him, but he had to admit that it was really practical and convenient. His hair wouldn’t fall into his eyes and face again. He made a mental note that he owed Octavia Blake twice.

He didn’t like being in debt and he would make sure to repay her sooner or later.

 

 

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr: pixiebluesargent


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